HORRIFYING pictures show the aftermath of the Texas floods that have claimed dozens of lives and left girls attending a summer camp missing.
At least 90 bodies have been recovered since deadly rains washed over the Guadalupe River outside San Antonio over the July 4th holiday weekend.
Homes were destroyed by flash flooding that blew through Kerr County, Texas, throughout the July 4 weekend[/caption]
One of the hardest hit spots was Camp Mystic – a girls’ camp where 27 students and counselors were killed[/caption]
Little Sarah Marsh was one of the girls killed by the rising tides[/caption]
Ella Cahill is one of the girls who remains missing[/caption]
One of the worst-hit areas was Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp located dangerously close to the flooding shores.
Ten girls and a counselor attending the camp are still missing. They make up a heart-wrenching portion of the 41 people who are unaccounted for across the state.
- Torrential rain sparked deadly flash flooding around the Guadalupe River
- At least 90 people lost their lives, mostly in Kerr County, and rescue teams continue to search for survivors
- Families of some Camp Mystic girls have confirmed their deaths
- A woman was rescued after being washed 20 miles downstream
- Two brothers told of their brave escape from a flooded cabin
- The victims include the niece of the Kansas City Chiefs’ owners, a dad who died while saving his wife and kids, and a beloved high school coach
Now-terrifying pictures of the flooding aftermath at Camp Mystic show piles of abandoned sleeping bags strewn across the open-air cabins.
Bunkbeds were left askew by the rushing waters and everything inside the buildings was covered with layers of mud and sediment.
Survivors of the tragedy have started to open up about the chaotic mission to escape the waters after being surprised by the flash floods early Friday morning.
Glenn Juenke, a security guard at the camp, said that he had to throw girls on top of floating mattresses to save them from drowning.
But despite witnessing the death and destruction, he said he was struck by the “courage and faith” shown by the young girls.
“Each of those sweet girls [were] cold, wet, and frightened – but they were also incredibly brave,” he told CNN.
“They trusted me, and we leaned on each other through a long, harrowing night together inside their cabin.”
Belongings were strewn along the ground and covered in mud after the flooding blew through[/caption]
SURVIVING CAMPER SPEAKS
Callie McAlary, a 16-year-old camper, described the terrifying moment she realized that this wasn’t a normal thunderstorm.
“One minute you see lightning strike next to your cabin, and next to you, you hear water’s coming up,” she told Fox News.
Callie said that she watched in horror as girls rushed across the campgrounds to try to get into cabins that weren’t being filled with water.
“It was really bad thunder,” she said.
“We heard one of the campers run in and say, ‘hey, our cabin is flooding.’
“I knew some girls slept on trunks that night, some girls had to share beds, some girls slept on floors because they couldn’t go back to their cabin because it was so flooded in three cabins.”
As the water rose in the middle of the night, Callie said she decided to put a name tag on her body in case her cabin was “next.”
“In my head I was saying, ‘If something does happen, and I do get swept away, at least I’ll have my name on my body.’”
Callie’s family is from Texas, but they now live in Virginia. Her parents said that they wanted to send her to Camp Mystic so she could stay in touch with her roots.
Tara Bradburn, Callie’s mother, said that she was overwhelmed by how much the staff did to try and protect the girls.
“What the men and the staff and the Eastland family did to try and help everyone that they could – they are heroes,” she told Fox News.
“And those young girls and those young counselors that our young girls were under for the summer were remarkable and were brave and were strong and saved so many children.”
She and her mother opened up about the heroes who helped save dozens of lives[/caption]
